Sweden may offer incentives for fixing, rather than throwing away

According to a September 19 article in The Guardian, Sweden’s ruling party will introduce legislation (up for a vote in December) that would offer tax breaks for repairing consumer items as a way to encourage Swedes to consume less.

“We believe that this could substantially lower the cost and so make it more rational economic behaviour to repair your goods [rather than replacing them with new],” says Per Bolund, Sweden’s minister for financial markets and consumer affairs and a proponent of the tax law changes.

Seems obvious, but we consumers also need access to goods that can be repaired and education about what can be repaired (a 1970s analog washing machine, yes, a 2010 washing machine with internal sensors, maybe not; a leather bag with a torn or broken handle, yes, a less expensive faux-leather bag, no).